A sinister, fermenting bowl of unidentifiable leftovers which has been continually pushed to the back of the fridge, seemingly since about 1982. Eek. At least you've inspired me (shamed me) to have a proper clear out!

Ha. I cleaned the fridge out recently... and we are generally pretty good about not over-stocking it, so there is nothing too exciting right now! Pickles, some jam, and some condiments that are close to expiring is about it!

We've got a treasure-trove of condiments and sauces, three small bottles of Evian from our pre-Irene panic, and about 5 different salad dressings. We're trying to be better about making everything we eat (a la Paleo) and haven't had much use for a lot of the old condiments and dressings we used to rely on. And the Evian we're definitely saving for the next hurricane :)

A head of butter lettuce. The kind with the roots still attached. It's about a month old, but it seriously looks like I just bought it yesterday. I'm too afraid to use it, but I can't stand the thought of tossing it!

I clean out the fridge almost every time I grocery shop (we have a smallish fridge and mold grosses me out), but I always forget the door. Last week I found a bottled Diet Coke there, which is very strange because I would never buy that for home. Then I remembered that my roommate brought one home for me the weekend we moved in...last September.

We also have at least six containers of hummus at any given time because WHAT IF WE RUN OUT OF HUMMUS?

We're pretty good about using everything up (you can great the parmesan rind straight into sauces!!), but we have A LOT of condiments and three jars of (open) pickles that our roommate left behind when he moved out.

Put that parmesan heel in a batch of spaghetti sauce or a pot of soup! If left to simmer for a really long time it will eventually melt in completely, or it will soften and get chewy - you can eat it if you like. But the sauce or soup will get a boost of delicious parmesan flavour!

I always have a can of coconut milk (in case I need the solidified cream from the top), questionable feta, and really old tahini that hopefully is still okay

Schmaltz (chicken fat) from a chicken I roasted at least 3 months ago. I curse it every time I need the particular Pyrex container it's occupying, by I just can't work up the energy to scrape it out and dispose of it.

So funny/perfect for me today--I'm the last one moving out of my senior year college apartment, so I'm not only finding my stuff, I'm also finding things my roommates left...five half eaten but now freezer burned gelatos (the roommates'), little nubs of butter from recipes that didn't use a full stick, red curry paste, the baking soda box I added back in August, etc.

To be honest, we're pretty good about eating everything in our fridge haha. But! I think the things we have had the longest are: psyllium husk powder, some free beer my boyfriend got from a friend who doesn't drink, ginger liquor, apple cider vinegar and Earth Balance shortening. Woop! I know how to party haha...

I have six cartons of eggs in my fridge. My parents have chickens and each time I visit I get sent home with a dozen. I really need to spend a weekend making egg dishes. The problem is all the cartons are recycled so I have no clue which are fresh vs. edible. I'm sure there's some type of nifty test for that. Or I could start writing dates on them ha. Wasteful :/

When I was a kid I found an old can of Spam in the cabinet that had expired ten years prior. My mom suspects it was packed up when we moved and just shoved away and forgotten. My brother and I decided to have a party in it's honor. On the day of the party we went to retrieve the guest of honor, but it was missing. To our horror, we discovered that our dad had found the recently unearthed Spam and eaten it. He said it tasted fine :-/

Chipotles in adobo, because you never ever need a whole can; one can of pop, because someone left it at our house; a gallon container of maple syrup my parents gave me for Christmas 4 years ago (we're about 2/3 done with it); a box of baby lettuces because the fresh-from-the- garden lettuce is so much better I haven't opened it. Cute question. :)

I'm with nimber... my mom and my neighbor have chickens so I make a lot of frittatas and quiches and always have people over for brunch! We just moved and bought a refrigerator and it's amazing how you take all of those weird things and condiments for granted... who knew you had to buy soy sauce, doesn't the soy sauce fairy just drop it off in the night?

we have a tiny fridge in our flat but there is still that old rind of parmesan, some going-off pears belonging to my flatmate, a tupperware box of lovingly made mac & cheese which I didn't really want to reheat again yet, but didn't want to throw away either, half a head of cauliflower from when i tried to make that new fad of 'cauliflower rice' and some honey mustard pickled gherkins (living in Germany after all...) I am enjoying reading everyone else's comments, it's a funny but weirdly interesting post!

A bundle of fresh Italian parsley that I bought with the intention of green smoothies, stuck in a cup with water like a vase (so it won't die) and covered with a plastic bag (so it won't wilt), but rotting/wilting anyway because I fail to add more water or use it up quickly. Glad you asked.

The fennel in the illustration is cracking me up! I always seem to have a random farmer's market find that I have big plans for...except they never come to fruition. Right now we have homemade tamales that are 2 weeks old. So much work...don't have the heart to pitch them yet!

8 different flavours of mustard - one plain yellow French's and the rest are all Kozliks - made in Canada - my husband loves it and they have a big booth/small store at a fresh food market we go to that sells just their mustard. They are all his and he eats specific flavours with different foods to shake things up. They have over 30 flavours. Seriously. Of mustard. Who knew? http://www.mustardmaker.com/orders.php

There always seems to be half of a jar of olive tapenade from Trader Joe's. No one can ever remember when it was actually opened, so we toss it, buy another one, and just use half, leaving the remainder to waste away again.

i usually survey my fridge every two weeks or so (coincides with me going grocery shopping). But we always have weird condiments on the door rack hanging out for years - bbq sauce, hoisin/general tso, a1, some salad dressing. but sometimes i get the yucky veg going bad in what seems like nano-seconds. we try to eat our leftovers for lunch each day. Although i just threw out a whole can of cranberry sauce that was in the fridge for months.

Pimentos. Year after year, pimentosIn a blue polka dot Moon, I crave confetti salad, (cold cooked [frozen is best] corn, diced peppers, onion, pimentos, and brown sugar), and I go buy the little round jar of pimentos because I threw the old expired one out. I rarely make the salad. Its like buying the pimentos ends the craving.

Ditto on the parmesan rind, as well as bits of various other cheeses. And the puckered lime. Old container of Trader Joe's pizza sauce, a perpetual tupperware with the rest of a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (they never seem to go bad...), and random weird condiments: ajvar (Balkan red pepper spread), anchovy paste, etc.

In our household, it's usually a bunch of limp and wobbly carrots and a nubbin of ginger root in the "crisper", a 3 year old bottle of fish sauce in the door, and a 1/3 full jar of tomato sauce that I swear I will use, but it always sits there for 2 weeks and goes a little fuzzy around the rim, under the cap, until I next make spaghetti and meatballs and open a fresh jar, only to start the cycle over again.

There always seems to be half of a jar of olive tapenade from Trader Joe's. No one can ever remember when it was actually opened, so we toss it, buy another one, and just use half, leaving the remainder to waste away again.Cara Hidup Sehat